Prof. Norman Bailey comments on chaos in the Middle East

Recently much has been made of the so-called "Arc of Shi'ism," from Lebanon to Iran, through Syria and Iraq. I submit that what is more significant is the much broader and longer "Arc of Chaos," from Tunisia to Pakistan. Of this huge chunk of the world, and in the face of an astounding lack of interest on the part of Europe and The United States, only Israel, Jordan and the Gulf states (with the exception of Bahrain), have escaped the encompassing and growing anarchy.

In the past few days alone, the following events have taken place; with one exception, all negative:

Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey has reverted to police repression of protestors, to a degree of brutality never seen during the days of the military dictatorships in that country, which he has so often denounced.

The Assad government in Syria retook an important town which was blocking its access to the north, again with maximum mayhem, much of it directed against the civilian population. The Assad offensive is now moving into high gear against the rebel-held second city of the country, Aleppo.